Harry Potter fans went wild at King’s Cross Station, on Friday, September 1, 2017.  As all true fans of J. K. Rowling‘s work know, 1 September 2017 is the day of the epilogue in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  It’s the day Harry and Ginny Potter take their sons to the train station so James and Al can go off to school.

As the Express pointed out, this was the date that Albus Severus Potter goes off to Hogwarts for the first time.  It’s the first time we meet Scorpius Malfoy.  It’s the end of the septet of novels.  It’s the first scene of the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Warwick Davis, who played Professor Filius Flitwick and the goblin Griphook in the Harry Potter movies, thrilled fans by making a surprise appearance at the train station. Remember when Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt told Cornelius Fudge, “You may not like him, Minister, but you can’t deny: Dumbledore’s got style” in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix?  The same can be said of Warwick Davis.  He turned up at King’s Cross on a Segway.

In addition to playing Professor Filius Flitwick, Head of Ravenclaw House and Charms Instructor at Hogwarts, Davis has appeared in a variety of other fantasy and science fiction roles.  He played the Ewok Wicket in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi as a child.  As a teenager, he starred in Willow as the would-be wizard who saved the infant prophesied to defeat the evil queen .  Davis was in the 1989 version of Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawntreader as the noble mouse Reepicheep, in the 1990 The Silver Chair as Glimfeather, and in the 2008 version of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian as Nikabrik the Dwarf.  In 2005 he portrayed the body of Marvin, the Paranoid Android, in the movie adaptation of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.  His Hogwarts colleague, the late Alan Rickman who so brilliantly brought the complex Professor Severus Snape to life, provided the voice of Marvin.  Davis co-starred with Matt Smith in the Doctor Who episode “Nightmare in Silver,” written by Neil Gaiman.  He appeared as a Leprechaun in a series of horror movies,  Warwick Davis has appeared in several Star Wars roles, and will be in the upcoming young Han Solo movie.

Flickering Myth reported that Harry Potter fans came to King’s Cross Station from around the world to celebrate the day Al Potter and Scorpius Malfoy start Hogwarts. The Independent said hundreds of fans, many in costume, came to the train station.  Our arithmancers are still working on their calculations and do not yet have an accurate count of how many people fans in addition to Warwick Davis came.

“It’s great to celebrate with the fans.  As well as being in the franchise, in the films, I’m a fan of them as well.”

Pottermore said “It’s fair to say that 1 September 2017 is an important day in the wizarding world. And it feels like an important anniversary in ours, too, as we’re up-to-date in real time with the characters from the books! Did you know, by the way, that Harry himself turned 37 this year? And this year also marks the twentieth anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. It’s official: we feel old.”

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Susan Macdonald

Susan Macdonald is the author of the children's book "R is for Renaissance Faire", as well as 26 short stories, mostly fantasy in "Alternative Truths", "Swords and Sorceress #30", Swords &Sorceries Vols. 1, 2, & 5, "Cat Tails" "Under Western Stars", and "Knee-High Drummond and the Durango Kid". Her articles have appeared on SCIFI.radio's web site, in The Inquisitr, and in The Millington Star. She enjoys Renaissance Faires (see book above), science fiction conventions,  Highland Games, and Native American pow-wows.